May 11, 2018 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Military Spouse Appreciation Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For May 11, 2018 Palin feels “gut punched” by McCain’s denunciation of her as a poor VP choice in his upcoming book while she slammed the Blues for trying to import voters by refusing to seal the borders; Scheldon Adelson, the casino magnate, has put his money where his fears are and pledged $30 million to the Reds Congressional reelection efforts to dam the “Blue wave” in its tracks; on the corruption front, former Blue Congressman Mel Reynolds after being convicted for the third time this time on charges of failing to file income tax returns on $400,000 of consulting income has indicated he is giving up on American and will return to Africa after serving his six month sentence (good luck in that “land of opportunity”); surf was up in the Antarctic Ocean near Campbell Island, New Zealand measuring 78 feet (fortunately too remote to have any ships or surfers in the way); George Soros the billionaire conservatives should fear has committed millions to target voters who have not voted in swing states; the new poster child of sexual abuse, New York AG Eric Schneidermann is being urged to donate his $8.5 campaign war chest to a women’s charity (good idea as his political career is ended);; in Chicago through May 9, 2018, 851 people have been shot, of whom 139 have died.

        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Tony Orlando and Dawn, factoids of interest for this day in history, the fact that you can use malgrado in a game of Scrabble and a relevant quote on military spouses,  secure in the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable events like Mothers’ Day, birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries, you know that the Alaskanpoet can provide you with a unique customized poem at a great price tailored to the event and the recipient. You need only contact me for details.

1. Military Spouse Appreciation Day—created by Presidential Proclamation since 1984 to recognize the contributions of military spouses who have to keep the family together especially when the serviceman or women serving is serving overseas or in a combat zone.      

2. National Twilight Zone Day—celebrating the really popular and creative TV series The Twilight Zone created by Rod Sterling and ran for 5 seasons from 1959-1964 but I am clueless why this day as it does not mark the birth or death of Rod Sterling or the first (October 1, 1959) or the last (June 19, 1964) episodes.      

3. 1975 Number One Song— the number one song in 1975 on a run of 3 weeks in that position was “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You)” by Tony Orlando and Dawn.  Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9_gV4fV5r8

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “malgrado” which means notwithstanding which makes it a perfect substitute when composing a tweet or playing scrabble.

5. Genes and Attitude Trump Smoking—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1906 of World War II Vet Richard Overton who at 112 is the oldest surviving American veteran of World War II and still able to talk, see, walk, and enjoy a cigar. 
         On this day in: 

a. 1960 in a daring move that proves you can run but you cannot hide, four Mossad agents captured Adolf Eichmann and spirited him out of Argentina back to Israel where he stood trial for his role in the Holocaust, was convicted and executed by hanging on June 1, 1962.

b. 1987 Klaus Barbie, the “Butcher of Lyon” went on trial in France for crimes against humanity, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison where he died at the age of 77 in 1991. c. 1995 more than 170 nations (but not North Korea) extended the Non Proliferation Treat indefinitely without conditions. 

d. 1996 improperly stored chemical oxygen aboard ValuJet Flight 592 bound from Miami to Atlanta caught fire shortly after takeoff causing the DC-9 to crash killing all 110 aboard.

e. 1997 IBM’s Deep Blue, a chess playing supercomputer, defeated Garry Kasparov in the last game of a chess match to become the first computer to defeat a champion chess master.   

Reflections on the role of military spouses:” Our military spouses are unsung heroes who maintain the home-front during lengthy deployments, give back to their communities through volunteer work, and provide moral support for their loved ones serving at home and in harm’s way. At the same time, many hold down full time jobs and raise families. While the service member is rewarded for superior job performance with medals, promotions and ceremonies, the military spouse generally only receives a kiss and a “thank you.” The Flagship: Heroes At Home.  Please enjoy the poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good, incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs—click on the links below. Go to www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for Ridley’s Believe It Or Not—This Day in History, poems to inspire, touch, emote, elate and enjoy and poems on breaking news items of importance or go to  Ridley's Believe It Or Not for just This Day in History.             

© May 11, 2018 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

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